Car-controlling mechanism



A; HACKWORTH ET AL CAR CONTROLLING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 24. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet n Apr. 24, 1923. 1,452,556

A. HACKWORTH ET AL CAR CONTROLLiNG MECHANISM Filed Feb. 24, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Apr. 24, 1923. 1,452,556-

A. HACKWORTH ET AL CAR CONTROLLI NG MECHANI SM Filed Feb. 24, 1921 SSheets-Sheet 5 mat-J! Patented Apr. 24,1923.

. ALFRED 'HAClKWORTH AN D JESSE onn-oonrnomme MECHANISM.

nAcnwonrn, or w en; 0310.

To aZZ whom it may concern Be it known that we,

the county of Lawrence and State ofv Ohio,

have invented certain new andwuseful ImproveInents in Car-Controlling Mechanisrnyf of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved car controlling mechanism especially designed for use in railway yards where cars are, by gravity, shiftedv from one track to another and the cars thus sorted and assembled in trains. Y i

The invention has as one of its principal objects to provide a mechanism whereby a car traveling down a grade may, from a suitable tower, be braked'and controlled.

v -A further object of the invention is to' provide a mechanism which will eliminate the necessity for numerous crews of work men for handling the cars in the yards;

And-the invention has as a stillfurther' object to provide a mechanism which, by

2 dispensing with the usual workmen,'will effect a great saving of life and wherein said mechanism will be capable of stopping a car at any desired point so' 'that damage to the rolling stock such as is now incident to freueue collisions, willbe eliminated.

Other andincidental, objects will appear hereinaften. Y r r T In vthe drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective. view showiingour improved mechanism in connection with several tracks of ara'ilway yard Figure 2 is a transverse sectionshowing the 'mountingof the brake shoes or rails of the mechanism,

'Figure'3 is a transverse section showing the connectionsbetween: the rockers of'the brake shoes and the brake -'bar.employed,'

Figure 41 is a fragmentary plan view showing the mounting of the operating lever for the brake bar, I

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section show- *ing the mechanismv for reciprocating the brake bar, I Figure 6' is'a detail-perspective showing one of the rollers employed for supporting the brake bar as well as one of the roller plates, I I

Figure -7 is ,a detail section showing the manner in which the sections of the brake 50' shoes are connected H ALFRED] HACK- WORTH and Jnssn HAoKWoRTH, citizensof; the United States,residlng'atrlronton, 1n

' is, as shown in Figures 8 and 9, across shaft Figure 8 is a detail section showing the crossshaft carried by eachp'air ofrockers employed, and

v Figure-9 is a detail section taken on the Referring now more particularly to the p.drawings, we shall describe 'our improved mechanism in connection with a single track, the rails of which are indicatedat 10 while the track ties areindicated at '11.

-T-he track is of ordinary construction, but preferably, the ties are, as suggested in thedrawings, arranged upon a cement track bed. Embracing each of the ties at the inner sides of the rails lOare supporting yokes 12, the ends of which project upwardly and extending through the end portions of said yokes are rods 13 coacting with the upper sidesof the ties for securing the yokes thereon. Mountedflto oscillate upon each of said rods is a pairof upstanding rockers 14 and Journaled through the upper end portions of each pair ofrockers 15. Oil ducts 15 lead from the upperends of the rockers to the bearings for-theshafts F' 15 and normally closing said ducts are cover plates 16. The rockers project above the track rails 10 and securedto said rockers are companion brake shoes or rails 17 spaced at theinner sides of the trackrails. The flbrake shoes are formed in sections and con-j necting said sections are, as shown in Figure 7, tie barsc1'7 bolted to the sections. g c

Suitably mounted upon the ,;ties 1 l"-:at spaced: points along the track are pairs of confronting blocks 18 and slidable between I I the blocksof the several pairs is a brake bar 19. Alternating with the pairsjof blocks 18 are substantially U-shaped keepers 20 en-[ gaging over the brake bar and secured to the I track ties for holding the brake bar against displacement, and mounted Within certain of said keepers at suitably spaced points throughout the length of the brake bar are roller plates 21. Struck from each ofthese plates is, as shown in detail in Figure ,6, a pair of upstanding toothed fianges 22 and formed to coact with said flanges is a roller 23 provided near its ends withgrooves 25: in which are formed teeth adapted to jooact with theteethof the flanges. llhe-rollers are thus supp'ortedto sustain the brake bar n s the brak r h ted meme;

nally, the rollers will move along the flanges 22 of the roller plates beneath said bar. At the ends of the bar are arranged brackets 25 and bearing between these brackets and the bar are cushioning springs 26 designed to absorb shock upon the bar when moved longitudinally. At their outer end portions. the blocks are cut away and pivoted upon each pair of blocks at the inner ends of said cut away portions is a pair of coacting levers 27 or bell cranks confronting the upper sides of the blocks. These levers are mounted to rock upon suitable posts or pins 28 upstanding from the blocks and at their inner end portions extend across the bar 19 in overlapping relation. Formed in the inner end portions of said levers are slots 29 and extending through said slots are headed pins 80 connecting the levers with the bar. At their outer end portions, the levers 27 are widened and pivotally connected thereto are pairs of links 31 in which are formed, as particularly shown in Figure 9, slots 32. The links of said pairs straddle the cross shafts 15 and engaged through said shafts are. coupling pins 33 extending freely through said slot-s connecting the links with the shafts. Surrounding the pairs of links to coact with the shafts are collars 34. These links also carry collars 35 held by tapered stop pins or keys 36 engaged through the slots 32 of the links and bearing between said collars are springs 37 acting to retract the links so that the pins 33 will normally rest at the outer ends of the slots 32.

, Mounted beneath the railway track and preferably housed within the track bed, is an air cylinder 38 from which extends a piston 39. This structure ma be'o't any approved character and any approved means may be providedfor selectively moving the piston in opposite directions. Extending between adjacent ties of the track is a cross bar 40 and mounted to rock upon said cross bar is a lever 41 pivotally connected at its lower end to the piston 39 while at its upper end said lever is provided with teeth. Secured to the lower side of the brake bar .19 to coaot with the teeth of the lever is a rack bar e2. Each track of a railway yard will, as suggested in Figure 1, be provided with the mechanism and, preferably, a tower, as conventionally illustrated at 43, will be employed as a controlling station for all of the mechanism.

Any approved means maybe provided for supplying air under pressure to the cylinder 38 associated with each track, the flow of air being controlled from the tower 43. However, we do not wish to be limited in this regard as any other approved means may be employed in lieu of the use of compressed air, as suggested in the present instance.

Returning now to the mechanism associated with a single track, it will be seen that when the lever 41 is rocked, the bar 19 will be moved longitudinally. Upon forward movement of the bar, the lever 27 will, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 4, be rocked forwardly, which, as will be at once appreciated, will result in rocking the brake shoes 17 laterally outward to coact, as suggested in Figure 3, with the wheels of a car traveling over the track. By increasing the thrust of the brake bar, the brake shoes may be caused to tightly bind against the inner sides of the car wheels so that the car may be readily braked and checked in its movement. In this connection, it will be observed that when the rockers 14 are swung laterally, the cross shafts 15 will turn upon said rockers so that bindin between the pins 33 and links 31 wi 1 be avoided while the links 'willslide forwardly over the cross shafts to effect compression of the springs 37. These springs will, therefore, serve to cushion the thrust of the levers 27 and will yieldably maintain the brake shoes 17 in engagement with the car wheels. Liability of injury to said wheels or damage to the mechanism will thus be reduced to a minimum. It will accordingly be seen that we provide a mechanism of highly efiective design and since the cars traveling upon the tracks of arailway yard may be readily controlled by the mechanism the necessity for numerous workmen is eliminated. Furthermore, since the cars may be readily checked in their movement and stopped, as desired, the liability of damage to the rolling stock by collision will be minimized. As suggested in Figure 1, the rails of the several tracks of the yard are preferably bonded while signal lamps 4:4: are arranged withinthe tower and are electrically connected with the rails by wires 45 for indicating the position of a car or cars upon each of the tracks. This signal mechanism may be of any approvedcharacter and accordingly no attempt is made to show said mechanism in detail.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A car controlling mechanism including companion brake shoes, yokes' embracing ties of a track and having upstanding end portions, rods extending through the end portions of the yokes to coact with the ties connecting the yokes therewith, rockers pivoted upon said rods and swingingly supporting the shoes between the track rails for movement to engage the wheels of a car upon said rails, and means for swinging said of track rails, cross shafts extending be tween the rockers of said pairs, a bar reciprocable for swinging the rockers and moving the shoes to engage the wheels of a car upon said rails, and an operative connection between the bar and said cross shafts. v a

3. A car controlling mechanism including rockers, brake shoes supported by said rockers between a pair of track rails, shafts carried by the rockers, a reciprocable bar,

pivotally mounted levers operatively con-a nected with the bar, andlinks connecting the levers with said shafts whereby the bar may be shifted for swinging the rockers and moving said shoes into engagement with the wheels of a car 11 on said rails.

4. A car control ing mechanism including rockers, brake shoes supported by said rock 7 ers between a pair of track rails, shafts carried by the rockers,a reciprocable bar, pivotally mounted levers operatively connected with the bar, links carried by said levers and slidably coacting with the shafts, and

springs bearing between the shafts and links for resisting inward movement of the shoes toward each other, thebarbeing shiftable surrounding saidlinks to bear between said collars and acting to resist inward movement of the shoes toward each other, the bar being shiftable for swinging the rockers outwardly and moving the shoes to engage the wheels of a car upon said rails. I

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures.

ALFRED HACKWORTH. [L. s.] JESSE HACKWORTH. [L. s.] 

